Encounter at Cold Harbor (8 page)

“I’ll help you with it if you need me, Eileen,” Leah called after her. She turned to Jeff and asked quietly, so that Mrs. Fremont couldn’t hear, “What is wrong with you, Jeff? Don’t you like Eileen?”

Jeff picked up Esther. “I don’t know why you call her Eileen. She’s a grown woman. You ought to call her Mrs. Fremont.”

“She
told
me to call her Eileen. It would be real odd calling her Mrs. Fremont when we’re together all the time. Don’t you
like
her, Jeff?” she repeated. “I think she’s wonderful!”

“She’s all right, I guess,” Jeff said reluctantly. There was a pouting look on his face. He took Esther
and plumped down on the sofa. He’d had mixed feelings from the very beginning about Eileen Fremont, and now he wished that he had not come to the house. He half rose, saying, “I guess I better get back …”

“You sit right down there, Jeff Majors, and tell me what’s the matter with you! You’re pouting like a mule that’s been eating briars!”

Jeff glared. “You’re the one that knows how to pout. You’ve been swelled up like a dead possum ever since you saw me with Lucy at the minstrel show!”

Leah sat beside him and looked him right in the eye. “Jeff, I was wrong about that. I’m sorry that I acted so badly. Do you forgive me?”

Her apology took the wind out of Jeff’s sails. Flustered, he let Esther scoot down to the floor. “Well … well, sure I will,” he said. “But why did you get so mad anyway? It was just a trip to a minstrel show.”

“Yes, but I saw her kiss you.”

Jeff flushed to the roots of his hair. “Oh, shoot!” he said explosively. “You know how Lucy is! She’s always kissing somebody! I’d just told her I was gonna ask Pa to let her come to the Regimental Band Concert, and she got all excited about it. A kiss doesn’t mean anything with Lucy.”

“I know. That’s just her way. I’m just silly, Jeff. I don’t see how you’ve put up with me all these years.”

Jeff felt rather strange. For days now, Leah had been angry and upset with him, and now all of a sudden, just as if she had thrown a switch, she was apologetic. He saw that she really meant it too, and
he quickly said, “Oh, that’s all right. I guess I’ve been pretty silly myself a time or two.”

“That’s sweet of you, Jeff. Most boys wouldn’t be so honest.”

This flustered him even more. “I don’t know if I’m all that honest,” he said. He glanced about the room. “I can’t tell you how I feel about Mrs. Fremont.” He refused to call her Eileen. “I’m worried about Pa.”

“You mean that he might get hurt in the battle?”

“There’s always that. We never quite put that out of our minds, I guess, but it’s more than that. You know, I’ve been studying people a long time, and I’ve noticed something about men.”

“What, Jeff?”

“I’ve noticed that every time a man loses his wife, sooner or later he gets anxious to get married again.”

Leah stared at him. “Well, that’s natural. Especially for a young man like your father. Why, he
needs
a wife. I know you miss your mother and respect her, but—”

“It’s not just that. I’ve seen some men go off and marry the wrong women. You remember when Sam Doogle’s wife died back in Pineville? She was a good woman, Heddy was. Steady and good with the kids. So what did Sam do?”

“He married Joyce Reynolds.”

“Yeah, and you know what Joyce Reynolds was. She was no good from the start. She hadn’t been married to Sam for a month before she started fluttering her eyelashes at other men. You know what a mess that was.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with this, Jeff. Eileen’s not like that.”

“How do you know?” Jeff demanded. “You’ve only been around her a few days. You don’t know what she’s like.”

“I know she’s very sweet and gentle—”

“And she’s got a temper like a buzz saw. Pa said that his own self!” Jeff exclaimed. “Why, the first time she come into that tent, Pa said she raked him up one side and down the other! Now, what’s it going to be like if he marries a woman like that, always losing her temper?”

“I don’t know anything about that! I haven’t seen her lose her temper.”

“Well, she did! You just ask Tom! He heard it!”

“I don’t think you can judge a person that easily, Jeff. All of us lose our temper sometimes. Why, suppose a stranger had seen
me
the last few days, all angry and sullen. But I’m not like that all the time.”

“I reckon that’s right enough, but everything’s in a rush because of this blasted war. I just don’t think Pa ought to go to that ball with her, that’s all!”

For a long time Leah tried to talk to Jeff. She said she was amazed that he was so stubborn.

And then he blurted out, “She’s just not like Ma! That’s all there is to it!”

“Nobody is exactly like your mother, Jeff. Nobody ever could be. God made each one of us like we are. Think what a world it would be if everyone were just like you.”

“What’s wrong with me?” Jeff demanded. “Nothing!”

“Nothing, but if everybody were just like you, it would be awfully boring, for one thing. God made us all different and for a purpose. The preacher said that last Sunday. Don’t you remember?”

“Well, Mrs. Fremont is too different from Ma. Ma was quiet and real gentle, and Mrs. Fremont is redheaded and hot-tempered. She goes charging around like she’s got a full head of steam all the time.”

“I think that’s a very attractive way. It’s natural with her. And she’s very lonely, Jeff. She lost her husband and baby. She needs a husband, and she’s so in love with Esther. It makes you almost cry to see it.”

“Well, it doesn’t make me cry!” Jeff announced. He stood up, his back ramrod straight. “I’m going back to camp!” He marched to the door but turned around before going out. “I’m right glad we made up, Leah. I sure don’t like to fuss with you.”

“I’m glad too, Jeff.” If Leah wanted to say another word about Eileen, the still-stubborn look in Jeff’s eyes must have kept her from it. “Why don’t you come back and stay with Esther and me while your father is at the ball?”

Jeff hesitated, then nodded. “Well … I reckon I might do that.”

“If you don’t have to go back,” she said quickly, “you could stay right now.”

Jeff considered that. “Pa said I might want to do that, and I told him I probably wouldn’t.”

“Come on, Jeff. I’ll tell you what. We’ll make popcorn balls. You always like to do that.”

Enticed by the promise of popcorn balls, which he loved, Jeff said, “Well, I guess it’d be all right. We could take Esther down to the creek, and she can watch me catch fish again.”

“All right, Jeff.”

Leah ran at once to tell Eileen. “Jeff’s going to stay with me while you and his father go to the ball. We’re going to make popcorn balls.”

Eileen smiled. “I think I’m doing the wrong thing, but you talked me into it.”

“You’re doing the
right
thing! Now, you go to that ball, and you have the best time you ever had in your whole life!”

J
eff did not eat much supper, Leah noticed, at least not as much as he usually did. That is to say, he ate only two whole baked potatoes, a huge chunk of smoked ham, a medium-sized bowl of butter beans, and four biscuits.

She smiled sweetly and said, “Well, Jeff, I guess you’re too full to eat anything else.”

He leaned back and patted his stomach. “Sure am. You did a good job, Leah.”

“I guess I’ll have to save the apple pie for somebody else.”

Jeff’s eyes flew open. “You’ve got apple pie? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I
am
telling you. I’ll just have a piece for me, and you could have some, couldn’t you, Eileen?”

Eileen seemed amused by the scene between the two young people. She’d mentioned to Leah that Jeff was rather stiff in his behavior toward her, and that she regretted it for she found him a very handsome and attractive young man—much like his father. “I believe I could have a small piece,” she said demurely.

When Leah got up to get the pie, Eileen reached across and gave Esther a spoonful of peas. “Chew them good,” she said.

“Chew! Peas good!” Esther crowed.

“She certainly is a beautiful child, Jeff. And Leah
tells me she looks exactly like your mother with her blonde hair and blue eyes.”

“I guess so,” Jeff grunted, not looking up.

Leah noticed his behavior and slammed down his pie in front of him with more force than was necessary. She was upset with Jeff because he persisted in his mulish behavior. “Well, there it is.”

Jeff glanced at her and then quickly back down at the pie. Picking up his fork, he sliced off a healthy wedge, speared it, then put it in his mouth. “Good,” he mumbled around the huge mouthful. But when he took a sip of coffee made from acorns, he made a face. “I wish the coffee was as good as the pie!”

“If the war doesn’t end pretty soon, some people will forget what real coffee tastes like,” Leah said.

“Guess so,” Jeff muttered.

“Come along, Eileen, it’s time to get you ready,” Leah said. “Jeff, you can wash the dishes. And look after Esther.”

Jeff waited until the two women had left the room, then said under his breath, “Glad to, Leah, now that you have asked me so politely.”

He looked over at Esther, who was grinning at him. He walked around the table, sat beside her, and wiped her face with a damp cloth. “I wish everybody was as sweet and pretty as you are, Esther,” he whispered. “It would be a mighty good world.” Then he put her on the floor, where she played around his feet and generally got in the way as he washed the dishes in the sink.

When he’d finished that chore, he wandered into the sitting room, with Esther padding along beside him. Sitting on the floor, he got out some of her toys
and played with her until he heard the sound of a horse and carriage outside.

“That must be Pa,” he said. He got to his feet, and when a knock came at the door, he was there to answer it. “Come on in, Pa. I mean, Colonel.”

“I guess it can be Pa tonight,” Nelson Majors said. “How do you like the new uniform? Absolutely the last one in all Richmond.” He turned around to give Jeff a good look. The uniform he wore was ash-gray, and he had a scarlet sash around his waist. The coat was long, and its brass buttons gleamed in the lamplight. His boots glowed with a bright burnish. The hat he held by his side had a small, black, feathered plume in it.

“Wow, Pa,” Jeff said almost reverently. “You look great. If you drop dead, we won’t have to do a thing to you.”

“Jeff, you have a way of phrasing things that … well … well, thanks anyway for the compliment, if that’s what it was.”

“It was, Pa. You look great! Come on in and let Esther take a look at you in all your glory.”

In the sitting room, Esther ran to him instantly.

The colonel picked her up, tossed her into the air, listened to her squeal, then sat down with her on his lap. “Tell me what you’ve been doing,” he said and listened as, in her babyish prattle, she told of her adventures of the day. After a time he turned to Jeff. “She seems to be happy with her new nurse.”

“I guess so,” Jeff said uncomfortably. He had not said anything to his father about his displeasure, and he was glad he had not.

At that moment, he heard steps coming down the hallway, and both men looked toward the door.

Leah stepped inside, a smile on her face. “And now, I give you the queen of the ball, Mrs. Eileen Fremont!”

She waved her hand, and Eileen came into the room, her cheeks rosy. “What a lot of nonsense,” she said. “Hello, Colonel.”

Nelson stared at her. She was wearing a bright yellow evening gown with a deep-pointed bodice. The short sleeves were hidden under epaulettes of lace and trimmed with small, light pink silk flowers. The overskirt was gathered at the waist and very full, reaching to just above the knees, while the skirt underneath almost touched the floor and was decorated with small lace flounces and more silk flowers. Her hair was brushed back off her face, leaving a few small ringlets at each side, and was ornamented with pale pink flowers. She had on white elbow-length gloves.

“You look lovely, Eileen,” Colonel Majors said.

“Well, if I’m presentable, it’s because Leah’s such a good dressmaker. Actually, you’ve seen this dress before.”

“I have?”

“Yes, it belongs to Sarah,” Leah said. “Don’t you remember? She wore it to a ball once.”

“I guess I’d forgotten. Anyway, you look fine.” He pulled his watch out of his inner pocket and glanced at it. “And I guess we’d better get going if we want to be there for the opening promenade.”

As Eileen joined him at the door, the colonel said, “We may be back late, Jeff. I take it you’re staying. You can ride back to camp with me, of course.”

“All right, Pa.” Jeff waited until the door closed, then shook his head. “I never seen Pa act like that.
Why, you’d think he was eighteen years old and was going to his first party.”

“I think your father gets lonesome, Jeff. When a man has a wife, he has company. Your father’s been alone now for three years.”

“Well, anyway, I don’t expect she’ll stay too long. She’ll probably go back to Baton Rouge soon.”

If Leah suspected that Eileen had no such idea, she did not choose to let Jeff know this. “Let’s pop the popcorn,” she said, “and then we’ll make balls. Come on, Esther—I’ll give you your first lesson on how to pop corn.”

Eileen Fremont had not been to a party since before the Battle of Shiloh early in the war. As she moved around the ballroom floor to a waltz, she was very conscious of this. Somehow she felt vaguely guilty about coming and said so.

“I really shouldn’t be doing this, Colonel.”

Nelson Majors looked down at her. “Why in the world not? It’s innocent enough. There won’t be many more balls like this in the Confederacy, I think.”

“I don’t know why. I just sometimes think that I’m still married, even though my husband has been dead for two years.”

He maneuvered her in a sweeping curve and looked out over the ballroom. The women’s red, yellow, green, and blue dresses made a colorful sight amid the officers’ gray uniforms, glittering brass buttons, and polished black boots. He listened to the band playing, then said, “I know. I feel the same way. I suppose when you’re married to someone that you love, you think it can never end. But it does.”